System and method for automatically converting textual messages to musical compositions

ABSTRACT

A method for converting textual messages to musical messages comprising receiving a text input and receiving a musical input selection. The method includes analyzing the text input to determine text characteristics and analyzing a musical input corresponding to the musical input selection to determine musical characteristics. Based on the text characteristic and the musical characteristic, the method includes correlating the text input with the musical input to generate a synthesizer input, and sending the synthesizer input to a voice synthesizer. The method includes receiving a vocal rendering of the text input from the voice synthesizer, generating a musical message from the vocal rendering and the musical input, and outputting the musical message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/040,842, filed Aug. 22, 2014, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/121,803, filed Feb. 27, 2015, both of which areincorporated by reference in their entirety herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of music creation,and more specifically to a system of converting text to a musicalcomposition.

BACKGROUND

Communication via written text has become commonplace in today'ssociety. Such textual communications may be transmitted (or otherwisemade available) to one or more recipients via email, MMS message, SMSmessage, instant messaging, online chat, various social media outletssuch as Twitter® and Facebook® messaging, among other methods availablenow and in the future.

As text communication has become more ubiquitous over time, this form ofmessaging has lost some of its original appeal. Some text communicationapplications have introduced additional features in attempt to reclaimsome of the appeal. For example, certain text platforms allow users toadd emoticons or other graphics (e.g. GIF files) to their messages. Evenso, because of their growingly pervasive use, graphics have lost some oftheir appeal as well over time. Moreover, the number of pre-existinggraphics and emoticons are practically limited, and creating suchgraphical enhancements from scratch may be difficult or impractical forthe common user. Similarly, some applications have provided users withlimited options for embedding audio/music files into messagestransmitted using certain formats.

It would be desirable to provide users with a convenient platform tocompose and deliver text-based communication over various mediums in amore creative and entertaining manner.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, the disclosure describes a computer implemented methodfor automatically converting textual messages to musical messages. Thecomputer implemented method comprises receiving a text input andreceiving a musical input selection. The method also includes analyzing,via one or more processors, the text input to determine at least onetext characteristic of the text input and analyzing, via the one or moreprocessors, a musical input corresponding to the musical input selectionto determine at least one musical characteristic of the musical input.Based on the at least one text characteristic and the at least onemusical characteristic, the method also includes correlating, via theone or more processors, the text input with the musical input togenerate a synthesizer input and sending the synthesizer input to avoice synthesizer. The method includes receiving, from the voicesynthesizer, a vocal rendering of the text input, generating a musicalmessage from the vocal rendering of the text input and the musicalinput, outputting the musical message.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes an apparatus comprisingat least one processor and at least one memory storing computer readableinstructions. When executed, the instructions cause the apparatus atleast to perform receiving a text input and receiving a musical inputselection. The instructions also cause the apparatus to performanalyzing, via the at least one processor, the text input to determineat least one text characteristic of the text input and analyzing, viathe at least one processor, a musical input corresponding to the musicalinput selection to determine at least one musical characteristic of themusical input. Based on the at least one text characteristic and the atleast one musical characteristic, the instructions also cause theapparatus to perform correlating, via the at least one processor, thetext input with the musical input to generate a synthesizer input andsending the synthesizer input to a voice synthesizer. The instructionsalso cause the apparatus to perform receiving, from the voicesynthesizer, a vocal rendering of the text input, generating a musicalmessage from the vocal rendering of the text input and the musicalinput, and outputting the musical message.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a non-transitorycomputer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, causean apparatus at least to perform receiving a text input and receiving amusical input selection. The instructions also cause the apparatus toperform analyzing, via one or more processors, the text input todetermine at least one text characteristic of the text input andanalyzing, via the one or more processors, a musical input correspondingto the musical input selection to determine at least one musicalcharacteristic of the musical input. Based on the at least one textcharacteristic and the at least one musical characteristic, theinstructions also cause the apparatus to perform correlating, via theone or more processors, the text input with the musical input togenerate a synthesizer input and sending the synthesizer input to avoice synthesizer. The instructions also cause the apparatus to performreceiving, from the voice synthesizer, a vocal rendering of the textinput, generating a musical message from the vocal rendering of the textinput and the musical input, and outputting the musical message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described in referenceto the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numeralsrefer to like parts through all the various figures unless otherwisespecified.

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, a reference willbe made to the following detailed description, which is to be read inassociation with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a network configurationin which a musical messaging system may be practiced in accordance withthe disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method ofoperating the a musical messaging system in accordance with thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a playback slider bar in accordancewith the disclosure; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a device that supports the systemsand processes of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments bywhich the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.Among other things, the present invention may be embodied as methods ordevices. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of anentirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take themeanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein doesnot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.Furthermore, the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to a different embodiment, although it may. Thus, asdescribed below, various embodiments of the invention may be readilycombined, without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

In addition, as used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or”operator, and is equivalent to the term “and/or,” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. The term “based on” is not exclusive andallows for being based on additional factors not described, unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout thespecification, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and includes pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.”

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for creating amessage containing an audible musical and/or video composition that canbe transmitted to users via a variety of messaging formats, such as SMS,MMS, and e-mail. It may also be possible to send such musicalcomposition messages via various social media platforms and formats,such as Twitter®, Facebook®, Instagram®, or any other suitable mediasharing system. In certain embodiments, the disclosed musical messagingsystem provides users with an intuitive and convenient way toautomatically create and send original works based on infinitely varieduser inputs. For example, the disclosed musical messaging system canreceive textual input from a user in the form of a text chain, alongwith the user's selection of a musical work or melody that ispre-recorded or recorded and provided by the user. Once these inputs arereceived, the musical messaging system can analyze and parse both thetext chain and the selected musical work to create a vocal rendering ofthe text chain paired with a version of the musical work to provide amusically-enhanced version of the text input by the user. The output ofthe musical messaging system can provide a substantial variety ofmusical output while maintaining user recognition of the selectedmusical work. The user can then, if it chooses, share the musicalmessage with others via social media, SMS or MMS messaging, or any otherform of file sharing or electronic communication.

In some embodiments, the user can additionally record video to accompanythe musically enhanced text. The video can be recorded in real-timealong with a vocal rendering of the text input provided by the user inorder to effectively match the video to the musical message created bythe system. In other embodiments, pre-recorded video can be selected andmatched to the musical message. The result of the system, in suchembodiments, is an original lyric video created using only a clientdevice such as a smartphone or tablet connected to a server via anetwork, and requiring little or no specialized technical skills orknowledge. The musical messaging system and methods of implementing sucha system are described in more detail below.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a network configuration inwhich the disclosed musical messaging system 100 can be implemented. Itis contemplated herein, however, that not all of the illustratedcomponents may be required to implement the musical messaging system,and that variations in the arrangement and types of components can bemade without departing from the spirit of the scope of the invention.Referring to FIG. 1, the illustrated embodiment of the musical messagingsystem 100 includes local area networks (“LANs”)/wide area networks(“WANs”) (collectively network 106), wireless network 110, clientdevices 101-105, server 108, media database 109, and peripheralinput/output (I/O) devices 111, 112, and 113. While several examples ofclient devices are illustrated, it is contemplated herein that clientdevices 101-105 may include virtually any computing device capable ofprocessing and sending audio, video, or textual data over a network,such as network 106, wireless network 110, etc. In some embodiments, oneor both of the wireless network 110 and the network 106 can be a digitalcommunications network. Client devices 101-105 may also include devicesthat are configured to be portable. Thus, client devices 101-105 mayinclude virtually any portable computing device capable of connecting toanother computing device and receiving information. Such devices includeportable devices, such as cellular telephones, smart phones, displaypagers, radio frequency (RF) devices, infrared (IR) devices, PersonalDigital Assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, laptop computers,wearable computers, tablet computers, integrated devices combining oneor more of the preceding devices, and the like.

Client devices 101-105 may also include virtually any computing devicecapable of communicating over a network to send and receive information,including track information and social networking information,performing audibly generated track search queries, or the like. The setof such devices may include devices that typically connect using a wiredor wireless communications medium such as personal computers,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, or the like. In one embodiment, at least someof client devices 101-105 may operate over wired and/or wirelessnetwork.

A client device 101-105 can be web-enabled and may include a browserapplication that is configured to receive and to send web pages,web-based messages, and the like. The browser application may beconfigured to receive and display graphics, text, multimedia, video,etc., and can employ virtually any web-based language, including awireless application protocol messages (WAP), and the like. In oneembodiment, the browser application is enabled to employ Handheld DeviceMarkup Language (HDML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), WMLScript,JavaScript, Standard Generalized 25 Markup Language (SMGL), HyperTextMarkup Language (HTML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and the like,to display and send various content. In one embodiment, a user of theclient device may employ the browser application to interact with amessaging client, such as a text messaging client, an email client, orthe like, to send and/or receive messages.

Client devices 101-105 also may include at least one other clientapplication that is configured to receive content from another computingdevice. The client application may include a capability to provide andreceive multimedia content, such as textual content, graphical content,audio content, video content, etc. The client application may furtherprovide information that identifies itself, including a type,capability, name, and the like. In one embodiment, client devices101-105 may uniquely identify themselves through any of a variety ofmechanisms, including a phone number, Mobile Identification Number(MIN), an electronic serial number (ESN), or other mobile deviceidentifier. The information may also indicate a content format that themobile device is enabled to employ. Such information may be provided in,for example, a network packet or other suitable form, sent to server108, or other computing devices. The media database 109 may beconfigured to store various media such as musical clips and files, etc.,and the information stored in the media database may be accessed by theserver 108 or, in other embodiments, accessed directly by othercomputing device through over the network 106 or wireless network 110.

Client devices 101-105 may further be configured to include a clientapplication that enables the end-user to log into a user account thatmay be managed by another computing device, such as server 108. Such auser account, for example, may be configured to enable the end-user toparticipate in one or more social networking activities, such as submita track or a multi-track recording or video, search for tracks orrecordings, download a multimedia track or other recording, andparticipate in an online music community. However, participation invarious networking activities may also be performed without logging intothe user account.

Wireless network 110 is configured to couple client devices 103-105 andits components with network 106. Wireless network 110 may include any ofa variety of wireless sub-networks that may further overlay stand-alonead-hoc networks, and the like, to provide an infrastructure-orientedconnection for client devices 103-105. Such sub-networks may includemesh networks, Wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, and thelike. Wireless network 110 may further include an autonomous system ofterminals, gateways, routers, etc., connected by wireless radio links,or other suitable wireless communication protocols. These connectors maybe configured to move freely and randomly and organize themselvesarbitrarily, such that the topology of wireless network 110 may changerapidly.

Wireless network 110 may further employ a plurality of accesstechnologies including 2nd (2G), 3rd (3G), 4th (4G) generation, and 4GLong Term Evolution (LTE) radio access for cellular systems, WLAN,Wireless Router (WR) mesh, and other suitable access technologies.Access technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, and future accessnetworks may enable wide area coverage for mobile devices, such asclient devices 103-105 with various degrees of mobility. For example,wireless network 110 may enable a radio connection through a radionetwork access such as Global System for Mobil communication (GSM),General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment(EDGE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), etc. In essence,wireless network 110 may include virtually any wireless communicationmechanism by which information may travel between client devices 103-105and another computing device, network, and the like.

Network 106 is configured to couple network devices with other computingdevices, including, server 108, client devices 101-102, and throughwireless network 110 to client devices 103-105. Network 106 is enabledto employ any form of computer readable media for communicatinginformation from one electronic device to another. Also, network 106 caninclude the Internet in addition to local area networks (LANs), widearea networks (WANs), direct connections, such as through a universalserial bus (USB) port, other forms of computer-readable media, or anycombination thereof. On an interconnected set of LANs, including thosebased on differing architectures and protocols, a router acts as a linkbetween LANs, enabling messages to be sent from one to another. Inaddition, communication links within LANs typically include twisted wirepair or coaxial cable, while communication links between networks mayutilize analog telephone lines, full or fractional dedicated digitallines including T1, T2, T3, and T4, Integrated Services Digital Networks(ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), wireless links includingsatellite links, or other communications links known to those skilled inthe art. Furthermore, remote computers and other related electronicdevices could be remotely connected to either LANs or WANs via a modemand temporary telephone link. In essence, network 106 includes anycommunication method by which information may travel between computingdevices.

In certain embodiments, client devices 101-105 may directly communicate,for example, using a peer to peer configuration.

Additionally, communication media typically embodies computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other transportmechanism and includes any information delivery media. By way ofexample, communication media includes wired media such as twisted pair,coaxial cable, fiber optics, wave guides, and other wired media andwireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

Various peripherals, including I/O devices 111-113 may be attached toclient devices 101-105. For example, Multi-touch, pressure pad 113 mayreceive physical inputs from a user and be distributed as a USBperipheral, although not limited to USB, and other interface protocolsmay also be used, including but not limited to ZIGBEE, BLUETOOTH, orother suitable connections. Data transported over an external and theinterface protocol of pressure pad 113 may include, for example, MIDIformatted data, though data of other formats may be conveyed over thisconnection as well. A similar pressure pad may alternately be bodilyintegrated with a client device, such as mobile devices 104 or 105. Aheadset 112 may be attached to an audio port or other wired or wirelessI/O interface of a client device, providing an exemplary arrangement fora user to listen to playback of a composed message, along with otheraudible outputs of the system. Microphone 111 may be attached to aclient device 101-105 via an audio input port or other connection aswell. Alternately, or in addition to headset 112 and microphone 111, oneor more speakers and/or microphones may be integrated into one or moreof the client devices 101-105 or other peripheral devices 111-113. Also,an external device may be connected to pressure pad 113 and/or clientdevices 101-105 to provide an external source of sound samples,waveforms, signals, or other musical inputs that can be reproduced byexternal control. Such an external device may be a MIDI device to whicha client device 103 and/or pressure pad 113 may route MIDI events orother data in order to trigger the playback of audio from externaldevice. However, it is contemplated that formats other than MIDI may beemployed by such an external device.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method 200 foroperating the musical messaging system 100, with references made to thecomponents shown in FIG. 1. Beginning at 202, the system can receive atext input at 204. The text input for a message a user desires to sendcan be input by the user via an electronic device, such as a PC, tablet,or smartphone, any other of the client devices 101-105 described inreference to FIG. 1 or other suitable devices. The text may be input inthe usual fashion in any of these devices (e.g., manual input using softor mechanical keyboards, touch-screen keyboards, speech-to-textconversion). In some embodiments, the text input is provided through aspecialized user interface application accessed using the client device101-105. Alternatively, the text input could be delivered via a generalapplication for transmitting text-based messages using the client device101-105.

The resulting text input may be transmitted over the wirelesscommunications network 110 and/or network 106 to be received by theserver 108 at 204. At 206, the system analyzes the text input usingserver 108 to determine certain characteristics of the text input. Insome embodiments, however, it is contemplated that analysis of the textmessage could alternatively take place on the client device 101-105itself instead of or in parallel to the server 108. Analysis of the textinput can include a variety of data processing techniques andprocedures. For example, in some embodiments, the text input is parsedinto the speech elements of the text with a speech parser. For instance,in some embodiments, the speech parser may identify important words(e.g., love, anger, crazy), demarcate phrase boundaries (e.g., “I missyou.” “I love you.” “Let's meet.” “That was an awesome concert.”) and/oridentify slang terms (e.g., chill, hang). Words considered as importantcan vary by region or language, and can be updated over time to coincidewith the contemporary culture. Similarly, slang terms can varygeographically and temporally such that the musical messaging system 100is updatable and customizable. Punctuation or other symbols used in thetext input can also be identified and attributed to certain moods ortones that can influence the analytical parsing of the text. Forexample, an exclamation point could indicate happiness or urgency, whilea “sad-face” emoticon could indicate sadness or sorrow. In someembodiments, the message conveyed in the text input can also beprocessed into its component pieces by breaking words down intosyllables, and further by breaking the syllables into a series ofphonemes. In some embodiments, the phonemes are used to create audioplayback of the message in the text input. Additional techniques used toanalyze the text input are described in greater detail below.

At 208, the system receives a selection of a musical input transmittedfrom the client device 101-105. In some embodiments, a user interfacecan be implemented to select the musical input from a list or library ofpre-recorded and catalogued musical works or clips of musical works thatcan comprise one or more musical phrases. In this context, a musicalphrase is a grouping of musical notes or connected sounds that exhibitsa complete musical “thought,” analogous to a linguistic phrase orsentence. To facilitate the user's choice between pre-recorded musicalworks or phrases, the list of available musical works or phrase mayinclude, for example, a text-based description of the song title,performing artists, genre, and/or mood set by phrase, to name only a fewpossible pieces of information that could be provided to users via theuser interface. Based on the list of available musical works or phrases,the user may then choose the desired musical work or clip for themusical messaging system to combine with the text input. In oneembodiment, there may be twenty or more pre-recorded and selectedmusical phrases for the user to choose from.

In some embodiments, the pre-recorded musical works or phrases arestored on the server 108 or media database 109 in any suitable computerreadable format, and accessed via the client device 101-105 through thewireless network 106 and/or network 110. Alternatively, in otherembodiments, the pre-recorded musical works are stored directly onto theclient device 101-105 or another local memory device, such as a flashdrive or other computer memory device. Regardless of the storagelocation, the list of pre-recorded musical works can be updated overtime, removing or adding musical works in order to provide the user withnew options and additional choices.

It is also contemplated that individual users may create their ownmelodies for use in association with the musical messaging system. Oneor more melodies may be created using the technology disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 8,779,268 entitled “System and Method for Producing a MoreHarmonious Musical Accompaniment Graphical User Interface for a DisplayScreen System and Method that Ensures Harmonious Musical Accompaniment”assigned to the assignee of the present application. Such patentdisclosure is hereby incorporated by reference, in full.

In further embodiments, individual entries in the list of musical inputoptions are selectable to provide, via the client device 101-105, apre-recorded musical work, or a clip thereof, as a preview to the user.In such embodiments, the user interface associated with selecting amusical work includes audio playback capabilities to allow the user tolisten to the musical clip in association with their selection of one ofthe musical works as the musical input. In some embodiments, suchplayback capability may be associated with a playback slider bar thatgraphically depicts the progressing playback of the musical work orclip. Whether the user selects the melody from the pre-recorded musicalworks stored within the system or from one or more melodies created bythe user, it is contemplated that the user can be provided withfunctionality to select the points to begin and end within the musicalwork to define the musical input.

One illustrative example of a playback slider bar 300 is shown in FIG.3. The illustrated playback slider bar 300 includes a start 302, an end304, and a progress bar 306 disposed between the start and end. Itshould be understood, however, that other suitable configurations arecontemplated in other embodiments. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG.3, the total length of the selected musical work or clip is 14.53seconds, as shown at the end 304, though it should be understood thatany suitable length of musical work or clip is contemplated. As theselected music progresses through playback, a progress indicator 308moves across the progress bar 306 from the start 302 to end 304. In theillustrated embodiment, the progress bar “fills in” as the progressindicator 308 moves across, resulting in a played portion 310 disposedbetween the start 302 and the progress indicator and an unplayed portion312 disposed between the progress indicator and the end 304 of themusical clip. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the progressindicator 308 has progressed across the progress bar 306 to the 6.10second mark in the selected musical clip. Although the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 3 shows the progress bar 306 being filled in as theprogress indicator 308 moves across it, other suitable mechanisms forindicating playback progress of a musical work or clip are alsocontemplated herein.

In some embodiments, such as the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, theuser can place brackets, such as a first bracket 314 and a secondbracket 316, around a subset of the selected musical phrase/melody alongthe progress bar 306. The brackets 314, 316 indicate the portions of themusical work or clip to be utilized as the musical input at 208 in FIG.2. For example, the first bracket 314 can indicate the “start” point forthe selected musical input, and the second bracket 316 can indicate the“end” point. Other potential user interfaces that may facilitate userplayback and selection of a subset of the musical phrase may be usedinstead of or in conjunction with the embodiment of the playback sliderbar 300 of FIG. 3.

As would be understood by those in the art having the presentspecification before them, it would be possible for the user to select amusical work, phrase, or melody first and then later input their desiredtext, or vice versa, while still capturing the essence of the presentinvention.

Once user selects the desired musical work or clip to be used as themusical input for the user's musical message, the client device 101-105transmits the selection over the wireless network 106 and/or network110, which is received by the server 108 as the musical input at 208 ofFIG. 2. At 210 of FIG. 2, the musical input is analyzed and processed inorder to identify certain characteristics and patterns associated withthe musical input so as to more effectively match the musical input withthe text input to produce an original musical composition for use as themusical message. For example, in some embodiments, analysis andprocessing of the musical work includes “reducing” or “embellishing” themusical work. In some embodiments, the selected musical work is parsedfor features such as structurally important notes, rhythmic signatures,and phrase boundaries. In embodiments that utilize a text or speechparser as described above, the results of the text or speech parsing maybe factored into the analysis of the musical work as well. Duringanalysis and processing, each musical work or clip can be optionally beembellished or reduced, either adding a number of notes to the phrase ina musical way (embellish), or removing them (reduce), while stillmaintaining the idea and recognition of the original melody. Theseembellishments or reductions are performed in order to align the textualphrases in the text input with the musical phrases by aligning theirboundaries, and also to provide the musical material necessary for thealignment of the syllables of individual words to notes resulting in anatural musical expression of the input text. It is contemplated that,in some embodiments, all or part of the analysis of the pre-recordedmusical works will have already been completed enabling the musicalmessaging system to merely retrieve the pre-analyzed data from the mediadatabase 109 for use in completing the musical composition. The processof analyzing the musical work in preparation for matching with the textinput and for use in the musical message is set forth in more detailbelow.

Subsequently to the analysis of the musical input, at 212, the textinput and the musical input are correlated with one another based on theanalyses of both the text input and the musical input at 206 and 210.Specifically, in some embodiments, the notes of the selected andanalyzed musical work are intelligently and automatically assigned toone or more phonemes in the input text, as described in more detailbelow. In some embodiments, the resulting data correlating the inputtext message to the musical input melody is then formatted into asynthesizer input at 214 for input into a voice synthesizer. Theformatted synthesizer input, in the form of text syllable-melodic notepairs, are then sent to a voice synthesizer at 216 to create a vocalrendering of the text input for use in an original musical message thatincorporates characteristics of the text input and the musical input.The musical message or vocal rendering is then received by the server108 at 218. In some embodiments, the musical message is received in theform of an audio file including a vocal rendering of the text messageentered by the user in the text input set to the music of the selectedmusical input. In some embodiments, the voice synthesizer can generatethe entire musical message including the vocal rendering of the textinput and the musical portion from the musical input. In otherembodiments, the voice synthesizer may generate only a vocal renderingof the input text created based on the synthesizer input, which wasgenerated by analyzing the text input and the musical input describedabove. In such embodiments, a musical rendering based on the musicalinput, or the musical input itself, can be combined with the vocalrendering to generate a musical message.

The voice synthesizer can be any suitable vocal renderer. In someembodiments, the voice synthesizer is cloud-based with support from aweb server that provides security, load balancing, and the ability toaccept inbound messages and send outbound musically-enhanced messages.In other embodiments, the vocal renderer is run locally on the server108 itself or on the client device 101-105. In some embodiments, thevoice synthesizer renders the formatted message data to provide atext-to-speech conversion as well as singing speech synthesis. In oneembodiment, the vocal renderer may provide the user with a choice of avariety of voices, a variety of voice synthesizers (including but notlimited to HMM-based, diphone or unit-selection based), or a choice ofhuman languages. Some examples of the choices of singing voices aregender (e.g., male/female), age (e.g., young/old), nationality or accent(e.g., American accent/British accent), or other distinguishing vocalcharacteristics (e.g., sober/drunk, yelling/whispering, seductive,anxious, robotic, etc.). In some embodiments, these choices of voicesare implemented through one or more speech synthesizers each using oneor more vocal models, pitches, cadences, and other variables that resultin perceptively different sung attributes. In some embodiments, thechoice of voice synthesizer is made automatically by the system based onanalysis of the text input and/or the musical input for specific wordsor musical styles indicating mood, tone, or genre. In certainembodiments, after the voice synthesizer generates the musical message,the system may provide harmonization to accompany the melody. Suchaccompaniment may be added into the message in the manner disclosed inpending U.S. Pat. No. 8,779,268, incorporated by reference above.

In some embodiments, the user has the option of adding graphicalelements to the musical message at 219. If selected, graphical elementsmay be chosen from a library of pre-existing elements stored either atthe media database 109, on the client device 101-105 itself, or both. Inanother embodiment, the user may create its own graphical element forinclusion in the musical text message. In yet other embodiments, graphicelements are generated automatically without the user needing tospecifically select them. Some examples of graphics that could begenerated for use with the musical message are colors and light flashesthat correspond to the music in the musical message, animated figures orcharacters spelling out all or portions of textual message input by theuser, or other animations or colors that are automatically determined tocorrespond with the tone of the selected musical work or with the toneof the text input itself as determined by analysis of the text input. Ifthe user selects or creates a graphical element, a graphical inputindicating this selection is transmitted to and received by the server108 at 220. The graphical element is then generated at 222 using eitherthe pre-existing elements selected by the user, automatic elementschosen by the system based on analysis of the text input and/or themusical input, or a graphical elements provided by the user.

In some embodiments, the user can choose, at 224, to include a videoelement with the musical message. If the user chooses to include a videoelement, the user interface can activate one or more cameras integratedinto the client device 101-105 to capture video input, such asfront-facing or rear-facing cameras on a smartphone or other device. Theuser can manipulate the user interface on the client device to recordvideo inputs to be incorporated into the musical message. In someembodiments, the user interface displayed on the client device 101-105can provide playback of the musical message while the user captures thevideo inputs so that the user can coordinate particular features of thevideo inputs with particular portions of the musical message. In onesuch embodiment, the user interface can display the text of the textinput on the screen with a progress indicator moving across the textduring playback so as to provide the user with a visual representationof the musical message's progress during video capture. In yet otherembodiments, the user interface provides the user with the ability tostop and start video capture as desired throughout playback of themusical message, while simultaneously stopping playback of the musicalmessage. One such way of providing this functionality is by capturingvideo while the user is touching a touchscreen or other input of theclient device 101-105, and at least temporarily pausing video capturewhen the user releases the touchscreen or other input. In suchembodiments, the system allows the user to capture certain portions ofthe video input during a first portion of the musical message, pause thevideo capture and playback of the musical message when desired, and thencontinue capture of another portion of the video input to correspondwith a second portion of the musical message. After video capture iscomplete, the user interface provides the option of editing the videoinput by re-capturing portions of or the entirety of the video input.

In some embodiments, once capture and editing of the video input iscomplete, the video input is transmitted to and received by the server108 for processing at 226. The video input can then be processed togenerate a video element at 228, and the video element is thenincorporated into the musical message. Once completed, the video elementcan be synced and played along with the musical message correspondingwith the order in which the user captured the portions of the videoinput. In other embodiments, processing and video element generation canbe completed on the client device 101-105 itself without the need totransmit video input to the server 108.

If the user chooses not to add any graphical or video elements to themusical message, or once the video and/or graphical elements aregenerated and incorporated into the musical message, the musical messageis transmitted or outputted, at 230, to the client device 101-105 overthe network 110 and/or wireless network 110. In embodiments where all ormost of the described steps are executed on a single device, such as theclient device 104, the musical message can be outputted to speakersand/or speakers combined with a visual display. At that point, in someembodiments, the system can provide the user with the option ofpreviewing the musical message at 232. If the user chooses to previewthe message, the musical message is played at 234 via the client device101-105 for the user to review. In such embodiments, if the user is notsatisfied with the musical message or would like to create analternative message for whatever reason, the user is provided with theoption to cancel the musical message without being sent or to edit themessage. If, however, the user approves of the musical message or optsnot to preview the musical message, the user can send the musicalmessage to a selected message recipient at 235. As discussed above, themusical message can be sent to the one or more message recipients usinga variety of communications and social media platforms, such as SMS orMMS messaging, e-mail, Facebook®, Twitter®, and Instagram®, so long asthe messaging service/format supports the transmission, delivery, andplayback of audio and/or video files.

The following provides a more detailed description of the methodologyused in analyzing and processing the text input and musical inputprovided by the user to create a musical message. Specifically, thedetails provided pertain to at least one embodiment of performing steps206 and 210-214 of the method 200 for operating the musical messagingsystem 100 illustrated in FIG. 2. It should be understood, however, thatother alternative methodologies for carrying out the steps of FIG. 2 arecontemplated herein. It should also be understood that the musicalmessaging system can perform the following operations automatically uponreceiving a text input and selection of musical input from a user viathe user's client device. It should further be understood that themethodology disclosed herein provides technical solutions to technicalproblems associated with correlating textual inputs with musical inputssuch that the musical output of the correlation of the two inputs ismatched effectively. Further, the methods and features described hereincan operate to improve the functional ability of the computer or serverto process certain types of information in a way that makes the computermore usable and functional than would otherwise be possible without theoperations and systems described herein.

The musical messaging system gathers and manipulates text and musicalinputs in such a way to assure system flexibility, scalability, andeffectiveness. In some embodiments, collection and analysis of datapoints relating to the text input and musical input is implemented toimprove the computer and the system's ability to effectively correlatethe musical and text inputs. Some data points determined and used by thesystem in analyzing and processing a text input, such as in step 206 ofFIG. 2, is the number of characters, or character count (“CC”), and thenumber of words, or word count (“WC”) included in the text input. Anysuitable method can be used to determine the CC and WC. For example, insome embodiments the system determines WC by counting spaces betweengroups of characters, or by recognizing words in groups of characters byreference to a database of known words in a particular language orselection of languages. Other data points determined by the systemduring analysis of the text input are the number of syllables, orsyllable count (“TC”) and the number of sentences, or sentence count(“SC”). TC and SC can be determined in any suitable manner, for example,by analyzing punctuation and spacing for SC, or parsing words intosyllables by reference to a word database stored in the media database109 or elsewhere. Upon receipt of the text input supplied by a user viathe client device 101-105, the system analyzes and parses the input textto determine values such as the CC, WC, TC, and SC. In some embodiments,this parsing is conducted at the server 108, but it is also contemplatedthat, in some embodiments, parsing of the input text is conducted on theclient device 101-105. In certain embodiments, during analysis, thesystem inserts coded start flags and end flags at the beginning and endof each word, syllable, and sentence to mark the determination madeduring analysis. The location of a start flag at the beginning of asentence, for example, can be referred to as the sentence start (“SS”),and the location of the end flag at the end of a sentence can bereferred to as the sentence end (“SE”). Additionally, it is contemplatedthat, during analysis, words or syllables of the text input can beflagged for a textual emphasis. The system methodology for recognizingsuch instances in which words or syllables should receive textualemphasis can be based on language or be culturally specific.

In some embodiments, another analysis conducted by the system on theinput text is determining the phrase class (“PC”) of each of the CC andthe WC. The phrase class of the character count will be referred to asthe CCPC and the phrase class of the word count will be referred to asthe WCPC. The value of the phrase class is a sequentially indexed set ofgroups that represent increasing sets of values of CC or WC. Forexample, a text input with CC of 0 could have a CCPC of 1, and a textinput with a WC of 0 could be have a WCPC of 1. Further, a text inputwith a CC of between 1 and 6 could have a CCPC of 2, and a text inputwith a WC of 1 could have a WCPC of 2. The CCPC and WCPC could thenincrease sequentially as the CC or the WC increases, respectively.

Below, Table 1 illustrates, for exemplary and non-limiting purposesonly, a possible classification of CCPC and WCPC based on CC and WC in atext input.

TABLE 1 PC CC WC Description 1  0 0 No Text Input 2 1-6 1 One Word 3 7-92-3 Extremely Short 4 10-25 4-8 Short 5 25-75  9-15 Medium 6  75-12515-20 Long 7 125+ 20+ Extremely Long

Based on the CCPC and WCPC, the system can determine an overall phraseclass for the entire text input by the user, or the user phrase class(“UPC”). This determination could be made by giving different weights todifferent values of CCPC and WCPC, respectively. In some embodiments,greater weight is given to the WCPC than the CCPC in determining theUPC, but it should be understood that other or equal weights can also beused. One example gives the CCPC a 40% weight and the WCPC a 60% weight,as represented by the following equation:

UPC=0.4(CCPC)+0.6(WCPC)  EQ. 1

Thus, based on the exemplary Table 1 of phrase classes and exemplaryequation 1 above, a text input with a CC of 27 and a WC of 3 would havea CCPC of 5 and a WCPC of 3, resulting in a UPC of 3.8 as follows:

UPC=0.4(5)+0.6(3)=3.8  EQ. 2

It should be noted that the phrase class system and weighting systemexplained herein can is variable based on several factors related to theselected musical input such as mood, genre, style, etc., or otherfactors related to the text input, such as important words or phrases asdetermined during analysis of the text input.

In an analogous manner, the musical input selected or provided by theuser can be parsed during analysis and processing, such as in step 210of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the system parses the musical inputselected or provided by the user to determine a variety of data points.One data point determined in the analysis is the number of notes, ornote count (“NC”) in the particular musical input.

Another product of the analysis done on the musical input includesdetermining the start and end of musical phrases throughout the musicalinput. A musical phrase is analogous to a linguistic sentence in that amusical phrase is a grouping of musical notes that conveys a musicalthought. Thus, in some embodiments, the analysis and processing of theselected musical input involves flagging the beginnings and endings ofeach identified musical phrase in a musical input. Analogously to thephrase class of the of the text input (UPC) described above, a phraseclass of the source musical input, referred to as source phrase class(“SPC”) can be determined, for example, based on the number of musicalphrases and note count identified in the musical input.

The beginning of each musical phrase can be referred to as the phrasestart (“PS”), and the ending of each musical phrase can be referred toas the phrase end (“PE”). The PS and the PE in the musical input isanalogous to the sentence start (SS) and sentence end (SE) in the textinput. In some embodiments, the PS and PE associated with the musicalworks pre-recorded and stored on the server 108 or the client device101-105 and available for selection by the user as a musical input canbe predetermined. In such embodiments, the locations of PS and PE forthe musical input are pre-determined and analysis of the musical inputinvolves retrieving such information from a store location, such as themedia database 109. In other embodiments, however, or in embodimentswhere the musical input is provided by the user and not pre-recorded andstored, further analysis is conducted to distinguish musical phrases inthe musical input and, thus, determine the corresponding PS and PE foreach identified musical phrase.

In some embodiments, the phrase classes of the text input and themusical input are compared to determine the parity or disparity betweenthe two inputs. It should be understood that, although the disclosuredescribes comparing corresponding text inputs and musical inputs usingphrase classes, other methodologies for making comparisons between textinputs and musical inputs are contemplated herein. The phrase classcomparison can take place upon correlating the musical input with thetext input based on the respective analyses, such as at step 212 of FIG.2.

In certain embodiments, parity between a text input and a musical inputis analyzed by determining the phrase differential (“PD”) betweencorresponding text inputs and musical inputs provided by the user. Oneexample of determining the PD is by dividing the user phrase class (UPC)by the source phrase class (SPC), as shown in Equation 3, below:

PD=UPC/SPC  EQ. 3

In this example, perfect phrase parity between the text input and themusical input would result in a PD of 1.0, where the UPC and the SPC areequal. If the text input is “shorter” than the musical input, the PD hasa value less than 1.0, and if the text input is “longer” than themusical input, the PD has a value of greater than 1.0. Those with skillin the art will recognize that similar results could be obtained bydividing the SPC by the UPC, or with other suitable comparison methods.

Parity between the text input and the musical input can also bedetermined by the “note” differential (“ND”) between the text input andthe musical input provided by the user. One example of determining theND is by taking the difference between the note count (NC) and theanalogous syllable count (TC) of the text input. For example:

ND=NC−TC  EQ. 4

In this example, perfect phrase parity between the text input and themusical input would be an ND of 0, where the NC and the TC are equal. Ifthe text input is “shorter” than the musical input, the ND would begreater than or equal to 1, and if the text input is “longer” than themusical input, the ND would be less than or equal to −1. Those withskill in the art will recognize that similar results could be obtainedby subtracting the NC from the TC, or with other suitable comparisonmethods.

Using these or suitable alternative comparison methods establishes howsuitable a given text input is for a provided or selected musical input.Phrase parity of PD=1 and ND=0 represents a high level of parity betweenthe two inputs, where PD that is much greater or less than 1 or ND thatis much greater or less than zero represents a low level of parity,i.e., disparity. In some embodiments, when correlating the musical inputand the text input to create a musical message, the sentence starts (SS)and sentence ends (SE) of the textual input would ideally align with thephrase starts (PS) and phrase ends (PE), respectively, of the musicalinput if the parity is perfect or close to perfect (i.e., high parity).However, when parity is imperfect, the SE and the PE may not align wellwhen the SS and the PS are set aligned to one another. Based on thelevel of parity/disparity determined during analysis, various methods ofprocessing the musical input and the text input can be utilized toprovide an optimal outcome for the musical message.

One example of a solution to correlate text and musical inputs issyllabic matching. When parity is perfect, i.e., note differential (ND)is zero, the note count (NC) and the syllable count (TC) are equal orthe phrase differential (PD) is 1.0, syllabic matching can involvesimply matching the syllables in the text input to the notes in themusical input and/or matching the text input sentences to the musicalinput musical phrases.

In some embodiments, however, if PD is slightly greater than or lessthan to 1.0 and/or ND is between, for example, 1 and 5 or −1 and −5,melodic reduction or embellishment, respectively, can be used to providecorrelation between the inputs. Melodic reduction involves reducing thenumber of notes played in the musical input and can be used when the NCis slightly greater than the TC (e.g., ND is between approximately 1 and5) or the musical source phrase class (SPC) is slightly greater than theuser phrase class (UPC) (e.g., PD is slightly less than 1.0). Reducingthe notes in the musical input can shorten the overall length of themusical input and result in the NC being closer to or equal to the TC ofthe text input, increasing the phrase parity. The fewer notes that areremoved from the musical input, the less impact the reduction will haveon the musical work selected as the musical input and, therefore, themore recognizable the musical element of the musical message will beupon completion. Similarly, melodic embellishment involves adding notesto (i.e., “embellishing”) the musical input. In some embodiments,melodic embellishment is used when the NC is slightly less than the TC(e.g., ND is between −1 and −5) or the SPC is slightly less than the UPC(e.g., PD is slightly greater than 1.0). Adding notes in the musicalinput can lengthen the musical input, which can add to the NC or SPCand, thus, increase the parity between the inputs. The fewer notes thatare added using melodic embellishment, the less impact the embellishmentwill have on the musical work selected as the musical input and,therefore, the more recognizable the musical element of the musicalmessage will be upon completion. In some embodiments, the additionalnotes added to the musical work are determined by analyzing the originalnotes in the musical work and adding notes that make sense musically.For example, in some embodiments, the system may only add notes in thesame musical key as the original musical work, or notes that maintainthe tempo or other features of the original work so as to aide inkeeping the musical work recognizable. It should be understood thatalthough melodic reduction and embellishment have been described in thecontext of slight phrase disparity between the musical and text inputs,use of melodic reduction and embellishment in larger or smaller phrasedisparity is also contemplated.

Another solution to resolving disparity between the musical input andthe text input is stutter effects. In some embodiments, stutter effectscan be used to address medium parity differentials—e.g., a PD betweenapproximately 0.75 and 1.5. Stutter effects involve cutting andrepeating relatively short bits of a musical or vocal work in relativelyquick succession. Stutter effects can be applied to either the musicalinput or to the text input in the form of vocal stutter effects in orderto lengthen one or the other input to more closely match thecorresponding musical or text input. For example, if a musical input isshorter than a corresponding text input (e.g., PD is approximately 1.5),the musical input could be lengthened by repeating a small portion orportions of the musical input in quick succession. A similar processcould be used with the text input, repeating one or more syllables ofthe text input in relatively quick succession to lengthen the textinput. As a result of the stutter effects, the phrase differentialbetween the musical input and the text input can be brought closer tothe optimal level. It should be understood that although stutter effectshave been described in the context of medium phrase disparity betweenthe musical and text inputs, use of stutter effects in larger or smallerphrase disparity is also contemplated.

Other solutions to resolving disparity between the musical input and thetext input are repetition and melisma. In some embodiments, repetitionand melisma are used to resolve relatively large phrase differentialsbetween musical and text inputs—e.g., a PC less than 0.5 or greater than2.0. Repetition includes repeating either the text input or the musicalinput more than once while playing the corresponding musical or textinput a single time. For example, if the PD is 0.5, this would indicatethat musical input is twice as long as the text input. In such ascenario, the text input could simply be repeated once (i.e., playedtwice), to substantially match the length of the musical input.Similarly, a PD of 2.0 would indicate that that the text input issubstantially twice as long as the musical input. In such a scenario,the musical input could be looped to play twice to correlate with thesingle playback of the longer text input.

Melisma is another solution that can be used to resolve disparitybetween musical inputs and corresponding text inputs. In someembodiments, melisma is used when the text input is shorter than themusical input to make the text input more closely match with the musicalinput. Specifically, melisma occurs when a single syllable from the textinput is stretched over multiple notes of the musical input. Forexample, if the syllable count (TC) is 12 and the note count (NC) is 13,the system can assign one syllable from the text input to be played or“sung” over two notes in the musical input. Melisma can be applied overa plurality of separate syllables throughout the text input, such as atthe beginning, middle, and end of the musical input. In someembodiments, the system can choose which words or syllables to which amelisma should be applied based on analysis of the words in the textinput and/or based on the tone or mood of the musical work chosen as themusical input.

Another solution to the disparity between text input and musical inputis recognizing leitmotifs in the musical input. One skilled in the artwould recognize that leitmotifs are relatively smaller elements of amusical phrase that still include some “sameness” that can be discernedby the listener. The “sameness” can be a combination of similar or samerhythms and musical intervals repeated throughout a musical phrase. Forexample, a leitmotif can be a grouping of notes within a musical phrasethat follows similar note patterns or note rhythms, and these leitmotifscan be recognized by the system during analysis or can be pre-determinedfor pre-recorded musical works. In either case, leitmotif locationsthroughout a musical input can be noted and marked. In some embodiments,leitmotifs can then be used as prioritized targets for textual emphasisor repetition when analyzing the musical input to resolve disparitybetween the musical input and the text input.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in certainembodiments, the musical messaging system can use any of the individualsolutions alone while correlating the musical input with the text input,or can implement various solutions described herein sequentially orsimultaneously to optimize the output quality of a musical message. Forexample, the system could use embellishment to lengthen a musical inputso that it becomes half the length of the text input, followed by usingrepetition of the embellished musical input to more closely match upwith the text input. Other combinations of solutions are alsocontemplated herein to accomplish the task of correlating the musicalinput with the text input so that the finalized musical message isoptimized. It is also contemplated that other techniques consistent withthis disclosure could be implemented to effectively correlate themusical input with the text input in transforming the text input andmusical input into a finalized musical message.

One skilled in the art would understand that the musical messagingsystem and the method for operating such musical messaging systemdescribed herein could be performed on a single client device, such asclient device 104 or server 108, or could be performed on a variety ofdevices, each device including different portions of the system andperforming different portions of the method. For example, in someembodiments, the client device 104 or server 108 could perform most ofthe steps illustrated in FIG. 2, but the voice synthesis could beperformed by another device or another server. The following includes adescription of one embodiment of a single device that could beconfigured to include the musical messaging system described herein, butit should be understood that the single device could alternatively bemultiple devices.

FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of the system 100 that may be deployed onany of a variety of devices 101-105 or 108 from FIG. 1, or on aplurality of devices working together, which may be, for illustrativepurposes, any multi-purpose computer (101, 102), hand-held computingdevice (103-105) and/or server (108). For the purposes of illustration,FIG. 4 depicts the system 100 operating on device 104 from FIG. 1, butone skilled in the art would understand that the system 100 may bedeployed either as an application installed on a single device or,alternatively, on a plurality of devices that each perform a portion ofthe system's operation. Alternatively, the system may be operated withinan http browser environment, which may optionally utilize web-plug intechnology to expand the functionality of the browser to enablefunctionality associated with system 100. Device 104 may include manymore or less components than those shown in FIG. 4. However, it shouldbe understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that certaincomponents are not necessary to operate system 100, while others, suchas processor, video display, and audio speaker are important to practiceaspects of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, device 104 includes a processor 402, which may be aCPU, in communication with a mass memory 404 via a bus 406. As would beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, processor 402 could alsocomprise one or more general processors, digital signal processors,other specialized processors and/or ASICs, alone or in combination withone another. Device 104 also includes a power supply 408, one or morenetwork interfaces 410, an audio interface 412, a display driver 414, auser input handler 416, an illuminator 418, an input/output interface420, an optional haptic interface 422, and an optional globalpositioning systems (GPS) receiver 424. Device 104 may also include acamera, enabling video to be acquired and/or associated with aparticular musical message. Video from the camera, or other source, mayalso further be provided to an online social network and/or an onlinemusic community. Device 104 may also optionally communicate with a basestation or server 108 from FIG. 1, or directly with another computingdevice. Other computing device, such as the base station or server 108from FIG. 1, may include additional audio-related components, such as aprofessional audio processor, generator, amplifier, speaker, XLRconnectors and/or power supply.

Continuing with FIG. 4, power supply 408 may comprise a rechargeable ornon-rechargeable battery or may be provided by an external power source,such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that could alsosupplement and/or recharge the battery. Network interface 410 includescircuitry for coupling device 104 to one or more networks, and isconstructed for use with one or more communication protocols andtechnologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobilecommunication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), user datagram protocol (UDP), transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), SMS, general packet radioservice (GPRS), WAP, ultra wide band (UWB), IEEE 802.16 WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), SIP/RTP, or any of avariety of other wireless communication protocols. Accordingly, networkinterface 410 may include as a transceiver, transceiving device, ornetwork interface card (NIC).

Audio interface 412 (FIG. 4) is arranged to produce and receive audiosignals such as the sound of a human voice. Display driver 414 (FIG. 4)is arranged to produce video signals to drive various types of displays.For example, display driver 414 may drive a video monitor display, whichmay be a liquid crystal, gas plasma, or light emitting diode (LED)based-display, or any other type of display that may be used with acomputing device. Display driver 414 may alternatively drive ahand-held, touch sensitive screen, which would also be arranged toreceive input from an object such as a stylus or a digit from a humanhand via user input handler 416.

Device 104 also comprises input/output interface 420 for communicatingwith external devices, such as a headset, a speaker, or other input oroutput devices. Input/output interface 420 may utilize one or morecommunication technologies, such as USB, infrared, Bluetooth™, or thelike. The optional haptic interface 422 is arranged to provide tactilefeedback to a user of device 104. For example, in an embodiment, such asthat shown in FIG. 1, where the device 104 is a mobile or handhelddevice, the optional haptic interface 422 may be employed to vibrate thedevice in a particular way such as, for example, when another user of acomputing device is calling.

Optional GPS transceiver 424 may determine the physical coordinates ofdevice 100 on the surface of the Earth, which typically outputs alocation as latitude and longitude values. GPS transceiver 424 can alsoemploy other geo-positioning mechanisms, including, but not limited to,triangulation, assisted GPS (AGPS), E-OTD, CI, SAI, ETA, BSS or thelike, to further determine the physical location of device 104 on thesurface of the Earth. In one embodiment, however, mobile device may,through other components, provide other information that may be employedto determine a physical location of the device, including for example, aMAC address, IP address, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 4, mass memory 404 includes a RAM 423, a ROM 426, andother storage means. Mass memory 404 illustrates an example of computerreadable storage media for storage of information such as computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.Mass memory 404 stores a basic input/output system (“BIOS”) 428 forcontrolling low-level operation of device 104. The mass memory alsostores an operating system 430 for controlling the operation of device104. It will be appreciated that this component may include a generalpurpose operating system such as a version of MAC OS, WINDOWS, UNIX,LINUX, or a specialized operating system such as, for example, Xbox 360system software, Wii IOS, Windows Mobile™, iOS, Android, webOS, QNX, orthe Symbian® operating systems. The operating system may include, orinterface with, a Java virtual machine module that enables control ofhardware components and/or operating system operations via Javaapplication programs. The operating system may also include a securevirtual container, also generally referred to as a “sandbox,” thatenables secure execution of applications, for example, Flash and Unity.

One or more data storage modules may be stored in memory 404 of device104. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art havingthe present specification, drawings, and claims before them, a portionof the information stored in data storage modules may also be stored ona disk drive or other storage medium associated with device 104. Thesedata storage modules may store multiple track recordings, MIDI files,WAV files, samples of audio data, and a variety of other data and/ordata formats or input melody data in any of the formats discussed above.Data storage modules may also store information that describes variouscapabilities of system 100, which may be sent to other devices, forinstance as part of a header during a communication, upon request or inresponse to certain events, or the like. Moreover, data storage modulesmay also be employed to store social networking information includingaddress books, buddy lists, aliases, user profile information, or thelike.

Device 104 may store and selectively execute a number of differentapplications, including applications for use in accordance with system100. For example, application for use in accordance with system 100 mayinclude Audio Converter Module, Recording Session Live Looping (RSLL)Module, Multiple Take Auto-Compositor (MTAC) Module, Harmonizer Module,Track Sharer Module, Sound Searcher Module, Genre Matcher Module, andChord Matcher Module. The functions of these applications are describedin more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,779,268, which has been incorporatedby reference above.

The applications on device 104 may also include a messenger 434 andbrowser 436. Messenger 434 may be configured to initiate and manage amessaging session using any of a variety of messaging communicationsincluding, but not limited to email, Short Message Service (SMS),Instant Message (IM), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), internet relaychat (IRC), mIRC, RSS feeds, and/or the like. For example, in oneembodiment, messenger 434 may be configured as an IM messagingapplication, such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, .NETMessenger Server, ICQ, or the like. In another embodiment, messenger 434may be a client application that is configured to integrate and employ avariety of messaging protocols. In one embodiment, messenger 434 mayinteract with browser 436 for managing messages. Browser 436 may includevirtually any application configured to receive and display graphics,text, multimedia, and the like, employing virtually any web basedlanguage. In one embodiment, the browser application is enabled toemploy Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), Wireless Markup Language(WML), WMLScript, JavaScript, Standard Generalized Markup Language(SMGL), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensible Markup Language(XML), and the like, to display and send a message. However, any of avariety of other web-based languages, including Python, Java, and thirdparty web plug-ins, may be employed.

Device 104 may also include other applications 438, such as computerexecutable instructions which, when executed by client device 104,transmit, receive, and/or otherwise process messages (e.g., SMS, MMS,IM, email, and/or other messages), audio, video, and enabletelecommunication with another user of another client device. Otherexamples of application programs include calendars, search programs,email clients, IM applications, SMS applications, VoIP applications,contact managers, task managers, transcoders, database programs, wordprocessing programs, security applications, spreadsheet programs, games,search programs, and so forth. Each of the applications described abovemay be embedded or, alternately, downloaded and executed on device 104.

Of course, while the various applications discussed above are shown asbeing implemented on device 104, in alternate embodiments, one or moreportions of each of these applications may be implemented on one or moreremote devices or servers, wherein inputs and outputs of each portionare passed between device 104 and the one or more remote devices orservers over one or more networks. Alternately, one or more of theapplications may be packaged for execution on, or downloaded from aperipheral device.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate theinvention and the invention is not limited thereto. While thespecification is described in relation to certain implementation orembodiments, many details are set forth for the purpose of illustration.Thus, the foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention.For example, the invention may have other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristic. The describedarrangements are illustrative and not restrictive. To those skilled inthe art, the invention is susceptible to additional implementations orembodiments and certain of these details described in this applicationmay be varied considerably without departing from the basic principlesof the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in theart will be able to devise various arrangements which, although notexplicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of theinvention and, thus, within its scope and spirit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for automaticallyconverting textual messages to musical messages, the computerimplemented method comprising: receiving a text input; receiving amusical input selection; analyzing, via one or more processors, the textinput to determine at least one text characteristic of the text input;analyzing, via the one or more processors, a musical input correspondingto the musical input selection to determine at least one musicalcharacteristic of the musical input; based on the at least one textcharacteristic and the at least one musical characteristic, correlating,via the one or more processors, the text input with the musical input togenerate a synthesizer input; sending the synthesizer input to a voicesynthesizer; receiving, from the voice synthesizer, a vocal rendering ofthe text input; generating a musical message from the vocal rendering ofthe text input and the musical input; and outputting the musicalmessage.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the text inputfurther comprises receiving the text input from a client device via adigital communications network.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinoutputting the musical message further comprises sending the musicalmessage to a client device via a digital communications network.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein correlating the text input with the musicalinput includes comparing, via the one or more processors, the at leastone text characteristic to the at least one musical characteristic. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one text characteristic is asyllable count and the at least one musical characteristic is a notecount.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein correlating the text input withthe musical input includes comparing the syllable count of the textinput to the note count of the musical input to determine a notedifferential.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein correlating the textinput with the musical input further comprises generating thesynthesizer input at least partially based on the note differential. 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, via the one ormore processors, a user phrase class based the at least one textcharacteristic; determining, via the one or more processors, a sourcephrase class based on the at least one musical characteristic; andcomparing the user phrase class to the source phrase class to determinea phrase differential.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprisinggenerating the synthesizer input at least partially based on the phrasedifferential.
 10. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; andat least one memory storing computer readable instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the apparatus at least to perform: receiving a textinput; receiving a musical input selection; analyzing, via the at leastone processor, the text input to determine at least one textcharacteristic of the text input; analyzing, via the at least oneprocessor, a musical input corresponding to the musical input selectionto determine at least one musical characteristic of the musical input;based on the at least one text characteristic and the at least onemusical characteristic, correlating, via the at least one processor, thetext input with the musical input to generate a synthesizer input;sending the synthesizer input to a voice synthesizer; receiving, fromthe voice synthesizer, a vocal rendering of the text input; generating amusical message from the vocal rendering of the text input and themusical input; and outputting the musical message.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein receiving the text input further comprises receivingthe text input from a client device via a digital communicationsnetwork.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein outputting the musicalmessage further comprises sending the musical message to a client devicevia a digital communications network.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein correlating the text input with the musical input includescomparing, via the at least one processor, the at least one textcharacteristic to the at least one musical characteristic.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one text characteristic is asyllable count and the at least one musical characteristic is a notecount, and wherein correlating the text input with the musical inputincludes comparing the syllable count of the text input to the notecount of the musical input to determine a note differential.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein correlating the text input with themusical input further comprises generating the synthesizer input atleast partially based on the note differential.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause theapparatus at least to perform: determining, via the at least oneprocessor, a user phrase class based the at least one textcharacteristic; determining, via the at least one processor, a sourcephrase class based on the at least one musical characteristic; andcomparing the user phrase class to the source phrase class to determinea phrase differential.
 17. A non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus at least toperform: receiving a text input; receiving a musical input selection;analyzing, via one or more processors, the text input to determine atleast one text characteristic of the text input; analyzing, via the oneor more processors, a musical input corresponding to the musical inputselection to determine at least one musical characteristic of themusical input; based on the at least one text characteristic and the atleast one musical characteristic, correlating, via the one or moreprocessors, the text input with the musical input to generate asynthesizer input; sending the synthesizer input to a voice synthesizer;receiving, from the voice synthesizer, a vocal rendering of the textinput; generating a musical message from the vocal rendering of the textinput and the musical input; and outputting the musical message.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein receivingthe text input further comprises receiving the text input from a clientdevice via a digital communications network, and wherein outputting themusical message further comprises sending the musical message to aclient device via the digital communications network.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the atleast one text characteristic is a syllable count and the at least onemusical characteristic is a note count, and wherein correlating the textinput with the musical input includes: comparing the syllable count ofthe text input to the note count of the musical input to determine anote differential; and generating the synthesizer input at leastpartially based on the note differential.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the apparatus at least to perform: determining,via the one or more processors, a user phrase class based the at leastone text characteristic; determining, via the one or more processors, asource phrase class based on the at least one musical characteristic;comparing the user phrase class to the source phrase class to determinea phrase differential; and generating the synthesizer input at leastpartially based on the phrase differential.